Steve Canyon (1)

Steve Canyon Vol. 1: 1947-1948

by Milton Caniff

Copperhead

Jan 13 - Apr 9, 1947

This is the first of sixteen stories in the Steve Canyon Companion, considers to be the first era of Caniff’s run on the strip. This era began in Jan 1947 and ran through early Oct 1950.

03/28/25

Jan 13-15, 1947 - Mr. Dayzee, a potential client, visits the office of Horizons Unlimited. He is there to meet with Steve Canyon but Feeta, Canyon’s secretary, explains to Mr. Dayzee that her boss is not currently in the office even though Mr. Dayzee made an appointment to meet with him. Dayzee is ready to walk out but Feeta encourages him to stick around and wait for Steve.

03/29/25

Jan 16-18, 1947 - Feeta gives Dayzee a picture of Steve Canyon to take back to his boss, Copper Calhoun. Dayzee gives the picture to Copper and advises her not to hire Canyon. She decides to not follow his advice.

Steve’s face appears for the first time but Steve Canyon is still absent from his eponymous strip.

Copper Calhoun seems like a mix of Raven Sherman and the Dragon Lady. 

03/30/25

Jan 19, 1947 - Steve comes into the office. Feeta has Dayzee on the phone. Dayzee wants to hire Steve’s services on behalf of Copper Calhoun. Steve refuses the offer. Copper doesn’t care what Canyon said, she wants that man.

03/31/25

Jan 20-22, 1947 - Steve talks to Feeta as she prepares to leave for the day. She reminds him that they are past due on paying their bills. Dayzee, under orders from Copper Calhoun, moves to seize Steve’s airplane. There is a mortgage on the airplane and that is one of the bills that is past due.

I don’t care for the way that Steve talks to Feeta. It doesn’t make me sympathetic towards him in the least bit.

Feeta is from American Samoa, if I am reading part of her conversation with Steve correctly.

04/01/25

Jan 23-25, 1947 - Steve agrees to meet with Copper and then has a chat with Feeta. Dayzee let’s Copper know how the meeting went as she gets ready for a visit from Steve.

04/02/25

Jan 26, 1947 - Copper tells her bodyguards to rough up Canyon. They start to do that but Canyon gets in a few licks himself before she calls off her boys.

Almost half of the panels in this Sunday strip are silent as Steve tussles with Copper’s guards.

04/03/25

Jan 27-29, 1947 - Steve finally meets Copper once the fight winds down

04/04/25

Jan 30-Feb 1, 1947 - Steve and Copper talk business. Dayzee tries to talk Kroon, one of Calhoun’s bodyguards, into killing Steve. Kroon doesn’t bite so Dayzee turns to blackmail in order to convince Kroon that he should kill Canyon.

Copper is no saint but Dayzee is starting to look like a much bigger threat.

04/05/25

Feb 2, 1947 - Kroon plans his revenge. Copper shows Steve a map of the places she wants him to fly her. Copper clobbers Dayzee with a vase. Steve reports back into the Horizons Unlimited office.

04/06/25

Feb 3-5, 1947 - Steve tells Feeta about the new job working for Copper and asks her to round up the crew so that they can get ready for the job. Breck Nazaire, the co-pilot, is the first one Feeta calls. He is on a date when the phone rings. Reilly, the engineer, is the second one that Feeta calls. His wife is asking him to find a more stable job that involves considerably less travel when the phone rings.

04/07/25

Feb 6-8, 1947 - Feeta calls three more of Steve’s crew but only gets through to two of them, Touhey and McGee. Rugger isn’t told he has a call from Canyon. 

I’m not sure what McGee and Rugger do but Touhey is the radio operator. 

04/08/25

Feb 9, 1947 - Steve introduces Calhoun to the crew, after which she orders Steve to take her to lunch.

The crew are

• Breckinridge Nazaire, co-pilot
• ‘Oily’ Reilly, engineer
• William ‘Beadeye’ Rugger, navigator
• ‘Two-Way’ Touhey, radio operator
• ‘Mudder’ McGee, flight traffic clerk

04/09/25

Feb 10-12, 1947 - Steve and his crew get ready for the trip. Steve and Copper go out to dinner the night before they are scheduled to leave. Kroon tags along, eager to let Steve know how he feels about the black eye Steve gave him.

Copper sure is turning on the charm, in her own style of course. I want to read ahead and see what happens next, I think for the first time since I started reading this strip, but I won’t.

04/10/25

Feb 13-15, 1947 - Copper and Steve dance. She orders him to kiss her afterwards when they are in a cab. He refuses. She slaps him. He assumes incorrectly that this means the end of their business relationship.

I love the second strip where she orders him to kiss her and then slaps him when he refuses. I also love the final panel of the third strip with Feeta in the foreground looking on sorrowfully as Steve heads out to board the airplane with Copper.

04/11/25

Feb 16, 1947 - Steve and Copper arrive at the airport. There’s a gaggle of press there to take pictures and get the scoop. Dayzee talks to Kroon, reminding him of what’s in store for him if he doesn’t do as he has ordered. The Horizons Unlimited plane takes off with everyone (Steve, his crew, Copper, Kroon) on board.

04/12/25

Feb 17-19, 1947 - Kroon tries to lay down the law but Steve shows him who’s the boss while they are in the air. Kroon gets brushed aside once they are on the ground when she decides to leave him behind at the airstrip. She only takes Steve with her when she goes to visit one of her offices.

04/13/25

Feb 20-22, 1947 - Breck and the rest of the crew give Kroon the silent treatment after he slugs Mudder for cracking wise. Copper and Steve visit one of her plantations where she inspects the books.

I thought they were still in the United States but based on the second and third strips I think they must be in a Spanish speaking country. 

04/14/25

Feb 23, 1947 - Copper finishes her inspection of the books. She is very unsatisfied with what she found and the answers she received to her questions. She and Steve head back to the airplane. The manager she just dealt with sends a warning message to Senor Pluma, the manager at the plant where Copper is headed next. 

04/15/25

Feb 24-26, 1947 - Pluma, the manager at Plantation 2, pretends to be someone other than the manager and makes it look like the manager recently committed suicide. Steve suspects that something is amiss.

04/16/25

Feb 27-Mar 1, 1947 - Steve continues to suspect that Pluma is up to something and starts to take precautions. Copper doesn’t care for the way Steve is conducting business and lets him know how she feels.

04/17/25

Mar 2, 1947 - Copper has dinner with Señor Pluma. Steve keeps an eye on them from a distance and then has a chat with Pluma.

04/18/25

Mar 3-5, 1947 - Pluma continues to scheme. Copper decides she doesn’t need Steve keeping such close tabs on her and Pluma. Steve starts to make plans for how to deal with Pluma while Pluma has Copper alone.

04/19/25

Mar 6-8, 1947 - Pluma and Copper go out for dinner. Steve stays behind but his crew do what they can to interfere with Pluma’s plans. 

04/20/25

Mar 9, 1947 - Steve walks into a trap set by Pluma. 

I like the visual storytelling in this strip but the story arc is starting to bore me.

04/21/25

Mar 10-12, 1947 - Pluma makes sure that Copper gets to see what sort of condition Steve is in and does his best to discredit her pilot.

Steve is unconscious for all three of these strips.

04/22/25

Mar 13-15, 1947 - Copper puts Breck in charge. Breck goes to see Steve in the hospital. Breck starts to plan something with the rest of the Horizons Unlimited crew. Kroon gets the cold shoulder first from the Horizons Unlimited crew and then from Copper. Pluma continues to romance Copper. 

04/23/25

Mar 16, 1947 - Breck hands out assignments to the rest of the Horizons Unlimited crew and then takes off on a mission of his own.

The shades that Copper is sporting in this strip are huge.

04/24/25

Mar 17-19, 1947 - Nazaire comes up with something but the others come up empty handed.

04/25/25

Mar 20-22, 1947 - Steve escapes from the hospital. Breck figures out that Pluma has been stealing from the Calhoun plantation. Copper gets ready for her date with Pino.

04/26/25

Mar 23, 1947 - Steve confronts Pluma. Pluma tries to buy him off so Steve starts doing his talking with his fists. Steve seems to have the upper hand but then one of Pluma’s gun toting flunkies shows up. 

I wonder how Steve is going to get out of this mess. Maybe someone from his team will show up and help to even the odds.

04/27/25

Mar 24-26, 1947 - Steve, Copper, and Pluma wind up in the police station. Steve explains what he knows about Pluma’s efforts to steal from Copper. Pluma tries to discredit Steve but then the manager from the first plantation that Copper visited shows up and explains how he tried to warn Pluma that Copper was coming to inspect the books.

The tide seems to be turning in Steve’s favor. 

04/28/25

Mar 27-29, 1947 - Pluma grabs Copper and escapes in his car with her. Pluma’s henchman locks the door to the police station from the outside with a padlock before Steve can get out of there.

Now everything seems to be going in Pluma’s favor. 

04/29/25

Mar 30, 1947 - Steve escapes from the police station. Kroon hears Copper screaming for help, steals a car, and takes off after the car which Pluma’s henchman is driving.

04/30/25

Mar 31-Apr 2, 1947 - Steve arrives at the airfield and the Horizons Unlimited transport takes off. Pluma is heading towards the border but Copper has other plans. She stands up and looks ready to jump from the moving car while Pluma is focused on Kroon in the car chasing them.

I would really like to turn the page and see what happens next. I don’t see how Copper can survive if she does jump. This moment reminds me of the arc in Terry and the Pirates when Raven Sherman was killed. I don’t think it is going to turn out the same way as that story.

05/01/25

Apr 3-5, 1947 - Kroon does something incredibly dangerous which crashes both cars on the mountainside road. 

There are lots of wordless panels in these three strips.

05/02/25

Apr 6, 1947 - Steve and two of his men parachute into the fight. Pluma is apprehended but not before he shoots Kroon. Copper is bruised up and unconscious. 

05/03/25

Apr 7-9, 1947 - Steve and the others do what they can to take care of Copper and Kroon until ambulances arrive to take them to the hospital. 

This ends the first arc of Steve Canyon. Kroon is dead, according to the companion book. I’m not ready to give up just yet but I’m far from impressed. Hopefully the next arc will be better.